A Minute
by theyoungertorres
Summary: It's less than an hour before his wedding, but Drew just needs a minute. A short one-shot.


Mike Dallas looked at himself in the mirror: clean shaven face, crisp white shirt, a crimson boutonniere pinned to his rented tuxedo jacket. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, grinning at the man in the mirror. He looked great. It was too bad that he wasn't the one getting married today. He doubted he could look this good twice in his lifetime.

It had been five years since his second senior year at Degrassi and time had changed both him and his friends – all for the better, in his opinion. He and Alli Bhandari had tried to rekindle a romantic spark, but after prom, they shook hands and parted ways as friends. She had gone to study at an Ivy League school in the states while he had went to a good, but less renowned university in Toronto. He had heard through the grapevine that she was engaged to one of her former professors.

Luke Baker got a full scholarship to a prestigious university to play hockey for their team, but he lost interest shortly after his freshman year as he slowly grew more accepting and tolerant. This led to him devoting more time to his religion and he ended up following in his father's footsteps although he tried to keep his sermons a bit more open-minded than that of his conservative father. Last year, Dallas had flown to Florida to attend Luke's wedding to his college sweetheart and he saw on Facerange that she was expecting their first child.

Imogen Moreno had stayed close to Toronto, going to university and eventually graduating with two degrees in education and psychology. She had joined the staff of Degrassi as a guidance counselor, using stories of her friends to help the next generation. She currently wasn't seeing anyone, but Dallas kept trying to set her up with a guy he met at a bar or a girl he knew through a mutual friend. She wasn't interested and seemed more intent on focusing on her career.

Becky Baker had surprised many people when she went to community college for a year before dropping out to travel Europe. She had explained to her confused and concerned friends that Adam had told her he wanted to see the world one day and to those closest to her, that explanation was all she needed. When Dallas had last spoken to Luke, he said that Becky was in France, volunteering at a church youth group and working with the Red Cross.

Eli and Clare had married the summer after Clare's senior year and moved to New York so that Eli could restart his education at NYU. Clare had found a school that matched her own interests and ended up getting an internship with the New York Times after two years living in the city. Last spring, Clare had given birth to their first son, Adam Grayson Goldsworthy, and according to Facerange, she just found out she was pregnant with twins.

As for Dallas, he had gone to university in Toronto with Drew Torres and the two had roomed together through their college years and still shared an apartment although that would change soon. Dallas was working as a physical education teacher at Degrassi so he could afford to pay his own rent and after many years of challenges and obstacles, Drew was finally getting married to Bianca. The two of them had bought an apartment about half an hour away and when they got back from their honeymoon, they would be moving in together.

_Speaking of which_, Dallas glanced down at the silver watch hanging off his wrist, _Omar should be coming to pick Drew and I up so we can head over to the church. After all, there won't be a wedding if the groom doesn't show._

Dallas walked over to Drew's room and knocked on the door, "Hey dude, you ready to go? Your dad is going to be downstairs soon with the car."

When Dallas got no response, he pushed open the door to reveal Drew sitting on his bed, wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of blue sweats. His tuxedo was thrown over a chair, still wrapped in plastic.

"Dude, what are you doing? We have to be at the church in," Dallas checked his watch again, "Twenty minutes. You need to get dressed."

He crossed the room and tore the plastic of tuxedo. He then heard Drew mutter something.

"What did you say?"

"I… I need a minute."

"You can have a minute in the car," Dallas picked up Drew's tuxedo jacket and tossed it so it landed in his friend's lap, "Now put this on. We need to get going."

Drew stood up and grabbed the jacket, throwing it back on his bed as he whirled around to face Dallas. His face was flushed and he looked quite mad. "No, you don't understand. I need a minute."

Dallas just stared at his best friend. He hadn't seen him like this in years. "Drew, you okay?"

"It's… the wedding."

"Is it Bianca?" Dallas tried to reach out to comfort Drew, but he backed away slowly, "Dude, you love her and-"

"No, it's not Bianca. She's everything I could ever want. It's just…" Drew trailed off and glanced down at his feet. When he looked back up at Dallas, the other man was shocked to see that his eyes were filled with tears.

Drew took a deep breath as though to control himself before continuing, "At our engagement part after everything that happened in Vegas, he… Adam pulled me aside when Bianca was talking to Becky. He had this big… big smile and he said 'I want to dance with my sister-in-law at your wedding.' He wanted to do a big ballroom dance with her and I laughed and said he could do whatever the hell he wanted."

Dallas looked away as Drew took another shaky breath, tears running down his face, "I am marrying the woman of my dreams. This is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, but my brother's not here. He was supposed to be my best man. He was supposed to stand beside me today. And he's missing it – he's missing everything."

"My mom has been planning this wedding," Drew continued through his tears, "She has scheduled every minute of every day. Every day I've had to do something for the wedding and I haven't been allowed to slowdown for one minute and just… I just need a minute to miss my brother. I need a minute to remember him."

Dallas allowed Drew a couple more seconds to recompose himself before embracing the other man. Adam had become something of a ghost in recent years. After their senior year, after the group went their separate ways, no one really talked about the youngest Torres. Well, no one except for Becky and she had left Toronto shortly after high school. Drew had thrown himself into school and then work and then the wedding and Dallas realized that this was the first time he could remember Drew saying Adam's name in over a year.

"Drew," Dallas looked at his best friend, "Adam is a part of you. He will be up there with you today. He will be whooping as you kiss Bianca for the first time as your wife and he will be laughing when your mother starts crying when you two leave for your honeymoon. Adam loved you, you were his best friend and brother, and he wanted nothing more than for you to be happy even if he wasn't around. He wouldn't be happy, knowing that you are crying today because of him."

Drew looked up at Dallas who gave him a weak smile before handing him his jacket again, "Come on, get dressed, get married to the woman you love, and live your life for Adam. It's all he ever wanted."

Dallas walked towards the door and paused, "Maybe I can talk to the DJ at the reception tonight. Have a song dedicated to the best man."

He closed the door behind him and walked towards the window, spotting Omar's car parking on the street. He then cast his glance towards the sky and allowed himself a minute to remember Adam Torres.


End file.
